Economy Ministry estimates GDP decline in 2015 at 10%

"As a whole, the Ministry of Economic Development estimates the GDP decline slowed down to 10% in 2015, while at the beginning of the year the figure stood at 17.2% (Q1)," Kovaliv wrote on Facebook.

According to Kovaliv, in spite of Russia's economic and military aggression, Ukrainian economy has been demonstrating positive dynamics for the second quarter in a row.

"For the second consecutive quarter, the Ukrainian economy had been demonstrating a positive dynamic, which was enhancing. Due to a relative macroeconomic stability in the country, which had been achieved through joint efforts of the government and the NBU, the seasonally adjusted GDP grew by 1.5% as compared to the third quarter [2015], as stated in the recent report [of the State Statistics Service], while the third quarter saw growth of 0.5%," Kovaliv wrote.

Read alsoInflation in 2016 may be higher than government forecast of 12% - expertAs UNIAN reported earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine has revised downwards its economic growth forecast for Ukraine in 2016 to 1.1% from 2.4% as previously projected. It also gave a more optimistic estimate of the country's GDP decline in 2015, posting it at 10.5% against a previous estimate of 11.6%.

Ukraine's main creditor, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), forecasts a 9% economic decline at the end of 2015 and a 2% growth in 2016. The IMF's inflation forecast coincides with that of the Ukrainian government: 45.8% in 2015 and 12% in 2016. The World Bank is a little more pessimistic in its forecasts. The Bank estimates Ukraine's economy declined by 12% in 2015, and it will grow by no more than 1% in 2016.

The experts interviewed by UNIAN are generally positive about Ukraine's prospects for leaving the contraction zone and starting to grow. UNIAN's consensus forecast says that Ukraine's economy will grow by 1% this year amid a 3% increase in industrial production and 19% inflation.